A Call To Men

In American history, when men had much more power and rights than women did, women were viewed as men's property. This meant that the men didn’t really view the women as their wives, partners, or equals. Instead the women were an object there to be handled however the men saw fit. Much like The Mask You Live In, Violence: An American Tradition also explored the relationship between men, masculinity, and violence.

Mandell argues that regardless of class, race, age, sexual orientation, woman are subject to male violence. Nothing can protect women in a patriarchal society. Violence against women ranges from verbal and physical abuse to sexual abuse, rape, pornography, battering and rape. (Mandell, Fifth Edition) Violence against woman is common and persistent. Thirty years ago, most forms of violence against women were hidden under a cloak of silence or acceptance. SOURCE Although, years later, it became apparent that violence against woman occurs on a massive scale; that no woman is immune. She emphasises that women are targets to be victimized. Men are socialised to objectify woman, legitimate aggression, and blame woman for their own victimization. ‘Where woman dominate, men have to resort to greater use of force to remain dominant’. (Mandell, Fifth Edition) They set the glass just high enough, so women cannot reach to break it, keeping the male in the dominate position.

Gloria Jean Watkins, known by her pen name Bell Hooks (the name of her great grandmother), was born September 25, 1952. She grew up to be the author of more than three dozen books, the topics of which range from gender, race, and class, to spirituality, and contemporary media. Hooks attended Stanford University, The University of Wisconsin, and The University of California, Santa Cruz, eventually earning her PhD. In her article, “Understanding Patriarchy,” Hooks argues that patriarchy isn’t only harmful to women, it’s harmful to men as well, in different ways. Patriarchy sets rigid gender roles that say women are to be docile, obedient, and nurturing, while men should be violent, dominating, and aggressive. This ideal greatly emotionally stunts men, and makes it so that they cannot express themselves in any way other than aggression. In this article, Hooks was very effective in explaining and giving examples as to why the patriarchy negatively affects both men and women, and that it is up to both to break free from these constraints and work together to end the patriarchy.

Barbara Perry’s article “Doing Gender and Doing Gender Inappropriately” addresses violence and gender, and how gender is influenced through the way it is perceived in society. The construction of gender comes in polar extremes, with masculine dominant men and feminine subordinate women. Gendered violence is used to control women as a class. It is a systematic tool used by men to reinforce gender norms and patriarchal ideas of masculine superiority and feminine inferiority. It “terrorizes the collective by victimizing the individual”. Like any dichotomy, it has scripts, and to deviate from these scripts will leave you labeled as ‘unnatural’ and ‘immoral’. These scripts “constrain everything from modes of dress and social roles to ways of expressing emotion and sexual desire”. In Judith Lorber’s “A World Without Gender” we are introduced to the possibility of eliminating gender and how “degendering [would] undercut the patriarchal and oppressive structure of Western Societies”.

As an allotment of manhood, the essence of brutality, especially in a warrior, is deemed essential. Men are expected to have that ruthlessness among their character as it was envisioned by humans beforehand. “Because this state of mind is rarely attained, and when achieved, nearly impossible to maintain, androgyny is an ideal goal- a vision of unity and harmony beyond the confines of gender, within the confines of the human” (Kimbrough 133). They are envisaged to be very masculine and cruel in order to be able to kill their opponents in battle without feeling guilt or regret. It is a man’s job to prolong this aspect due to that women are defined to have a gentle heart and be regretful of any vicious acts.

In Emma’s Ted Tal Jackson Katz attempted to expand the issue of gender violence to the male audience. He argued that it is not just a women’s issue but it is men as well. Stating that men have long been looked out of the conversation struck a chord with me. I never really looked into gender violence because I thought it was not my problem. Most men are not the one’s talking about, it is mostly women, so I see it as a topic mainly for women. That is how I saw what he was talking about us true, For us to push past these social issues it is imperative that both men and women recognize these issues and work together to resolve them.

The movie surveyed a wide array of the troubles faced by boys and men as they try to navigate the realm of masculinity. A common theme was the command “be a man” and the cultural baggage that comes with living up to that ideal. To “be a man” means to not cry, to not be sensitive, to not let people mess with you, to respond with violence, to be angry, to drink, to womanize.

Violence is too often linked to masculine identity and is not considered to be a form of deviance. The mainstream media continues to hold a monopoly on what it means to be a “real man.” The mainstream media also associates masculinity with aggression, violence, a need for power and control, and the need for respect. Fear is not put inside the masculine box of characteristics and either is emotional display. The ability to maintain a stoic personality is valued as well as the ability and readiness to defend oneself.

All across the world, since the dawn of time, men have taken a dominate role in society in their everyday lives. This role

Porter’s anecdote is proof that men are expected to be strong and masculine in every situation; they must remain unresponsive and unemotional no matter how what they are experiencing or else they will be thought to be like a woman. Dowd further imbeds this notion in her article with the statement that

The world can be a rather difficult place. From the physical and mental illnesses, poverty, and the abundance of different cultures, ethnicities, languages,and races, how can it not be a difficult place? With the great level of complication in the human life, it is normal to want to feel secure and follow a type of lifestyle. With a difficult world, it is also easy to have the need to feel powerful, and to do that, one will need to make others feel inferior. The terms ‘superiority’ and ‘inferiority’ are seen ubiquitously in terms of gender. A man is often paired off with words such as ‘strength’ and ‘authority’, all things great and superior. Whereas a woman would usually be compared to words such as ‘dependent’ and ‘small’, all things

Insofar as women’s labor within the private sphere goes unpaid, women will always be under the subordination of men. Insofar as women have less power in both the public and private spheres of life, they will continue to be systemically abused by men, who lash out against women as a result of the Capitalistic and patriarchal system that has been established in the United States. The Capitalistic and patriarchal nature of our society helps facilitate women’s economic dependence on men, and thus makes women vulnerable to men’s violence against

There are many things that men excel at far greater than women, and things that women are naturally better at then men. In some societies around the world women are held in the same regard as men, and are expected to partake in the same activities that men do. However, the facts are that men are physically stronger, as well as being more aggressive than women, who at times have proven to be aggressive in their own way. For example, moms can be very aggressive when it comes to their children even more so then fathers in some cases. But the percentage is very few compared to males. By looking at the statistics one can come to the conclusion that men’s aggression levels, as well as their physical strength vastly surpass a women’s. Although some people might disagree with the claims that are made in this paper, I strongly urge them to remember the popular statement that “facts do not

Throughout history, countless acts of gender inequality can be identified; the causes of these discriminating accounts can be traced back to different causes. The general morality of the inequity relies on a belief that men are superior to women; because of this idea, women have spent generations suffering under their counterparts. Also, a common expectation is that men tend to be more assertive and absolute because of their biological hormones or instinctive intellect. Another huge origin is sexual discrimination; even in the world today, many women are viewed by men as just sex objects rather than a real human being with

In any part of society, when a man’s masculinity is taken, he feels he has no power or ability to gain respect back (Schuman, 2014).